i like this picture

Sena and Aiyana with Grandma Joyce, at a party

peace

stronger

i'd really like to get stronger. not for looks (this time), but just so i can do my work without tiring so easily, or getting frustrated.

yesterday, i was preparing a bed for garlic planting. i had to put compost on, which involved shoveling the compost into a wheel barrow, out of the compost pile, and then pushing the wheel barrow over to the bed, only about 10ft away. doesn't sound too bad, but i found it pretty tiring. i'd like to be able to do stuff like this easily.

last night i went to my first yoga class in a long time (over 4 years now...). my friend jennifer is leading it,and she's amazing. the atmosphere was beautiful, very relaxing, yet powerful, and the class was long enough to actually feel that i got something out of it (one hour and a half). i think that yoga is one thing that can help me get stronger. so i'm hoping to keep going to this class once a week.

while i was at yoga, the kids stayed home with ed,and things went well. they read books, and carved their pumpkins. when i got home, all the lights were off, but i could see a faint glow inside. this is the image that greeted me as i walked in the door.

i was laughing, but i have to say that it did feel a bit spooky (which the kids were really glad to hear).

peace

gandhi

a few moths ago, sena and i read a book called Neela. it was about a girl growing up in India at the time of India's struggle for independence from the British. sena loved the book, and it was the first time she learned about Gandhi. since then, she occasionally brings him up, and wants to know more about him. she understands quite a bit about the issues between India and England, and she seems fascinated with Gandhi and his role.

yesterday she was asking about him again. she asked me if he's still alive, and i said no. she seemed fine with that. then she wanted to know how he died and other things. ed pulled out the encyclopedia, and he started reading about him. at the end of the passage he was reading, it said that Gandhi was assassinated by a brahmin. when sena heard that, she started wailing, ran to the kithen, and clung to me. we were all surprised by her reaction, especially since she was fine before, when we told her that he was dead. she said that she was really upset about how he had died, that if he had died naturally it would've been different. she was upset, she said, because he could've lived longer, if that man hadn't killed him.

i have to admit that i never cried over Gandhi's death before, but seeing sena's reaction yesterday, put things in such a new perspective, and i had to hold back my tears. we get so immune to killing... yet, it was very touching to see how upsetting this can be to someone whose heart is still open, like sena.

after she stopped crying, sena wanted to talk about why people kill each other. it was really hard to explain it to her, and i found myself saying over and over that it just doesn't make any sense. i tried to talk to her about some situations which may provoke people to act in extreme ways, but it was far from giving a rational explanation. she kept asking me why they don't just talk to each other, or if they can't agree, why they don't just do their own thing. it's so tricky to answer all these really good questions she was asking.

i feel that more that Gandhi's death, what she realized yesterday was a truth about people which i wish she didn't have to learn. i'll always remember the way she wailed, it was so piercing, and it broke my heart. i felt that in a way i let her down. i wish that we adults could live up to the simple and pure visions that children can have of us, and i am ashamed to admit that we are so far from it.

peace

sunny week

this week was so beautiful. after getting snow twice last week, finally, this week we had day after day of sun and warmth. i could not get enough of it. spent all day, everyday, outside. i got a lot done too. i covered almost all the crops, which doesn't sound like much, but it involves a lot of wire and plastic cutting to make hoop tunnels, as well as sandbag making (they are heavy!). the sandbags are used to weigh the hoop tunnels down, and keep them from blowing away in the wind.

we also had a beautiful women's circle. we had it outside, sitting around a big bonfire; as we spoke it, geese flew over our heads, honking in the clear blue sky; when darkness fell, the moon came up as a stunning, thin yellow crescent. we had excellent food at the end - tomasyn brought lebanese food, and my sister made a delicious plum crumble cake to celebrate shandra's birthday. she also brought home-made butter and bread, which the kids devoured. i made a vegetable stew with dumplings, and it came out really good.

ed and johnnie are making progress on the house. they work hard every day, and this week they put in two windows. ed called me one afternoon and he said to come over right away. so i did, and he wanted me to go in the livingroom(-to-be) and check out the view out the new windows. it was amazing. the red sun was setting over our new field, and we had a perfect view of it. we were both so happy about it.
i really am excited about being able to see the field out of the living room windows. next year, i'm planning to plant flowers to attract beneficial insects right in the field, and i think that that will make an even nicer view.

this week i planted some peonies by the new house, and i bought some spring bulbs - snow drops and narcissus, which i hope to get in the ground some time next week.
so that's what's been up with me....
peace

frost

we've already had frost 4 times this fall. this morning, ed said that the spinach was frozen stiff; i'm glad that i covered my lettuces and arugula yesterday. i spent all day doing it, making hoop tunnels out of metal rods and plastic, and looking for stones to hold them down; luckily, brian came over and helped me (a lot). he told me which crops need to be covered immediately and which can wait. and he helped me haul stones out of the woods. i needed a lot of them to hold down the plastic covers which kept being blown away by the wind.
i left the spinach, broccoli raab, kale, turnips and radishes uncovered, but i'll hopefuly get to them today. in any case they're supposed to be able to handle mild frosts.
today the sky is clear and blue, and it's cold, and so beautiful. i love this weather, i dress warm and i can be outside all day.

here are some pictures i'd like to share:

aiyana checking out a praying mantis. we were all very excited to discover it, knowing that it's great at eating crop pest.

i picked all my peppers and eggpants on sunday, before the frost hit. they're not frost tolerant at all.

the girls jumping on the trampoline

this is my rainbow chard. i grew it because it's so beautiful, and it turns out that it's also delicious. but i think it sells on looks alone.

chard leaf

and more chard

some of our chickens getting into their coop for the night

lettuces, before i covered them

spinach!

and more lettuces. people love our salad mix, which has these lettuces, and more, as well as some tatsoi and mizuna in it. i've had many people say it's the best salad they ever had. i love that.

peace

pictures from aiyana's party

aiyana loves horses, so when some friends asked if we wanted this one, i said yes, knowing that it would be a perfect birthday surprise for her. sena's riding it here, but aiyana had her fill riding it all day.

the trampoline was another hand-me-down birthday present that Grampa brought. the kids love it.

auntie Dianne showed up and provided some entertainment for everyone, tumbling around with the girls.

aiyana wanted strawberry cake, and i don't make cake; but fortunately grandma came through for us, and everyone enjoyed her beautiful strawberry angel cake, as you can tell here.

blowing out the candles (it was windy, but we shielded the candles as best as we could using plates, and it worked). i love sena's protective gesture, holding her hand on aiyana's back as she's blowing out the candles.

hanging out at the party. i'm so glad the weather was good and we were able to be outside. nothing like being out on a sunny fall day, with good food and great company! (speaking of good food, thank you to my sister and Joyce for their delicious contributions!)

peace

Aiyana's 4th bithday

we had aiyana's birthday party yesterday, and it was beautiful. the weather was gorgeous, just like the day she was born, 4 years ago. we had good friends and family over, and i spent 2 days cooking, which felt really good. i haven't had that much fun cooking lately, because i've been so busy working outside, but for this party, i took my time, and really enjoyed preparing everything. i love cooking when i know i will share it with people i feel close to. it's an act of love, and things came out great yesterday. aiyana had a lot of fun, and so did the rest of us.

today i'm running around doing errands, (mainly getting rid of stuff at the dump), while the kids are homeschooling at anita's house. it's another gorgeous fall day. i'm hoping to get some time to work in the field. i haven't been out there in a few days, with aiyana's birthday, and markets on the weekend. i want to weed and hoe, and also, i need to cover some crops, as the weather gets cooler. my salad mix is still going strong, but i need to cover it soon; i also have some beautiful spinach that is just about ready; still got turnips, radishes, broccoli raab, kale, chard, parsley, dill, arugula, and some peppers and eggpants which i need to pick really soon bc it's getting way too cold for them.

every once in a while, it hits me that we actually got our 5 acres, and we really own this beautiful piece of land, and it makes me extatic. it feels new all over again.
last week i was standing on the top of the hill, right in the middle of our new field, and i felt so strong and so happy and connected to everything around me. i was about to burst with happiness; it made me think of Don Juan, when he was talking about finding one's "power spot" (meaning a place where one feels an overwhelming sense of wellbeing) in "Jounrney to Ixtlan".

on to the dump now...
peace